What’s Thanksgiving without a football game? Football games played on Thanksgiving Day date back to 1876, when Yale and Princeton began an annual tradition of playing each other. The University of Michigan also made it a tradition to play annual Thanksgiving games, participating in 19 such games from 1885 to 1905. The Thanksgiving Day games between Michigan and Amos Alonzo Stagg’s University of Chicago Maroons in the 1890s have been cited as the true beginning of Thanksgiving Day football.
Before the final game of the 1898 season, Chicago was 9-1-1 and Michigan was 9-0; so the game between the two teams in the Windy City would decide the third Western Conference championship . Michigan won, 12-11, on November 24, 1898, capturing the program’s first conference championship in a game that inspired student Louis Elbel to compose Michigan’s fight song, “The Victors.”
Hail, hail to Thanksgiving Day.
Sojourner Truth Day was established as November 26th of each yer by the Michigan Legislature.
MCL 435.361
The Michigan legislature recognizes the fundamental contribution Sojourner Truth made to the cause of abolition of slavery and the establishment of equal rights for women and to several other significant social reform and human justice movements in the nineteenth century. Truth toured the nation for over 40 years as a forceful and passionate advocate for the dispossessed, using her quick wit and fearless tongue to deliver her message of equality and justice. She lived in Battle Creek, Michigan, from 1857 until her death on November 26, 1883. Empowered by her religious faith, the former slave worked tirelessly for many years to transform national attitudes and institutions. According to Nell Painter, Princeton professor and Truth biographer, “No other woman who had gone through the ordeal of slavery managed to survive with sufficient strength, poise, and self-confidence to become a public presence over the long term”. Designating Sojourner Truth Day in the state of Michigan will not only acknowledge the importance of this national figure in the antislavery and human justice movements, but will also recognize her strong ties to the state during her 26 years of residence here. In recognition of this great woman, the legislature declares November 26 of each year to be known as “Sojourner Truth Day”.
On November 27, 1901, Thanksgiving Eve, one of the worst railroad disasters in Michigan history occurred about a mile north-east of the tiny village of Seneca in southern Lenawee County. The number of people who died in this head-on collision is still wrapped in controversy and mystery to this day. The official number of fatalities as reported by the Wabash Railroad still holds today at 23. However, most newspapers at the time, and reporters on scene, claim at least 80 passed away, and possibly closer to 100.
As news got out around the countryside, many local residents came to help in the recovery and care of those injured. Many of the homes became makeshift hospitals as they awaited for emergency medical care to come from down the line in Peru, Indiana, and doctors with staff from Adrian. Within 24 hours, many large newspapers had reporters on site, and the wreckage had drawn thousands of spectators.
Sources :
“The Wreck On The Wabash-1901“, Geocaching.
Curtis Armstrong (born November 27, 1953) is an American actor known for his portrayal as Booger in the Revenge of the Nerds movies, as Herbert Viola on Moonlighting, as famed record producer Ahmet Ertegün in the film Ray and for voicing the titular character in the show Dan Vs. He is also the co-host of the TBS reality television competition series King of the Nerds.
Armstrong was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Norma E. (née D’Amico), a teacher, and Robert Leroy Armstrong. He graduated from Berkley High School in Berkley, Michigan, and later attended and was graduated from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.
Source : Curtis Armstrong Wikipedia entry
On Nov. 27, 1960, Gordie Howe scored his 1,000th point. Better known as “Mr. Hockey,” Howe made his professional debut with the Detroit Red Wings in 1946 at the age of 18. In 1997, Howe played in his final professional hockey game. His one-game contract with the Detroit Vipers meant that Howe’s professional career spanned six decades.
Sources:
Michigan History magazine
“He just kept going and going and …”, article by Larry Schwartz, ESPN Sport Century.
Mitch Albom (Bradley Whitford) has a pretty great life. He lives in Detroit and is happily married, he’s an award-winning sportswriter, a must-read newspaper columnist, a screenwriter, a radio and television broadcaster. Then two men come into his life, and he realizes something’s missing. Rabbi Albert Lewis (Martin Landau) presides over a thriving synagogue in a comfortable New Jersey suburb, and pastor Henry Covington (Laurence Fishburne), a recovering drug user and dealer, preaches to the poor and homeless in a crumbling Detroit inner-city church. Moving between their worlds – Christian and Jewish, African-American and white, impoverished and privileged – Albom witnesses first-hand how these two very different men not only live life, but celebrate it. What else do these two have in common? They believe there’s divine spark in all of us – and that a single person can make a big difference in others’ lives, as long as they have a little faith.
The movie was filmed in Detroit.
For the full article, see Mitch Albom, “This film has the story — and the spirit”, Detroit Free Press, November 27, 2011.
During the last days of November 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman was nearing the end of his epic march across Georgia to the sea. As he approached Savanah, Sherman requested that Union forces stationed at Hilton Head, South Carolina be dispatched to assist him by cutting the Charleston & Savannah Railroad near Pocotaligo. Cutting this railroad would prevent Confederate reinforcements from beefing up Savanah’s defenses before Sherman’s arrival.
On November 28, an expedition of 5,500 Union soldiers, sailors and marines sailed for the Broad River. Among them were the 102nd U.S. Colored Troops (originally the First Michigan Colored Infantry). There were delays, as fog and poor navigation sent some ships up the wrong stream. The troops were again delayed after disembarking from their ships at Boyd’s Landing, as they took the wrong road and had to backtrack. While Union forces marched and countermarched, Confederates dug into their earth and log fortifications on Honey Hill, a rocky ridge that blocked the road on which the expedition needed to travel.
The 102nd arrived at Boyd’s Landing at 11 a.m. and marched to the battlefield to find carnage before them. Part of the unit was stationed behind the front lines to stop any Union soldiers attempting to straggle away to escape the fighting. As the assault stalled, and with Northern troops pinned down and running low on ammunition, the order was given to retreat. One battery of Union cannons had nearly been wiped out in the attack. The battery had “lost two of its officers and most of its horses and cannoneers; two of the ammunition-chests on the limbers were blown up.”
The 102nd was ordered forward into the storm of Confederate fire to pull the cannons back to prevent their capture. Each cannon weighed around 2,600 pounds, and, with their ammunition and equipment, was normally pulled by a team of six horses. The commander of the expedition, General John Hatch, describes the repeated attempts of the officers and men of the 102nd to pull the cannons back to Union lines:
A detail of a company from the One hundred and second U.S. Colored Troops was ordered to bring off the guns. Capt. A. E. Lindsay, commanding the company, was killed, and Lieut. H. H. Alvord was severely wounded. The command of the company devolved upon a sergeant, who did not understand the object of the advance, and failed to accomplish it. First Lieut. O. W. Bennett, One hundred and second U.S. Colored Troops, with thirty men was detached for the same purpose, and executed it in the coolest and most gallant manner.
Colonel Henry Chapman, commander of the 102nd, also singled out Lieutenant Bennett in his report of the action:
First Lieut. O. W. Bennett was sent with his company to endeavor, if possible, to save the guns. Lieutenant Bennett, with thirty men, went forward fully 100 yards in advance of our first line, and succeeded in bringing away the three guns. Too high praise cannot be awarded to Lieutenant Bennett for the gallant manner in which he led his men in that perilous enterprise, nor to his men who so faithfully followed their leader.
The 102nd stayed on the battlefield until 7.30 p.m., when they fell back with the rest of the army to their landing place. Bennett who – like all the officers of the 102nd – was white, received the Medal of Honor for his courage at the Battle of Honey Hill. None of his men were even considered for the honor, though their undeniable bravery was memorialized in army reports and newspapers. A correspondent who witnessed the 102nd in battle wrote, “after having been three and a half years in the field and participated In sixteen different engagements, I never before saw men exhibit such unyielding bravery In battle.”
Source : Eric Perkins, “Covered Themselves with Glory”, Seeking Michigan, March 3, 2015.
On this day, 29 ships were either damaged or lost during a winter gale on Lake Superior.
Source : Pasty Central Day in History, November 28
However, many think the greatest storm ever to occur on the Great Lakes happened between November 7-12, 1913. It caused over 40 shipwrecks and cost at least 235 lives. See YouTube video
Also see Freshwater Fury: The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, Michigan In Pictures, November 7, 2009.
Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. brought black music to white audiences. He premiered a new sound, and launched the careers of such artists as Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder and the Supremes. In 1975, Gordy was given a lifetime achievement award at the American Music Awards, and in 1988, Gordy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
For more information, visit Caleb Marsh, Happy Birthday Berry Gordy, Founder of Motown, Finding Dulcinea, November 29, 2009.
Michael “Jim” Delligatti, an early Ray Kroc franchisee and the man who created the most iconic item on the McDonald’s menu, the Big Mac, died Monday at the age of 98.
Delligatti created the infamous burger — known for its two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun — calling it “The Big Mac Super Sandwich” and began selling them at his Uniontown, Pennsylvania store in 1967, according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
The burger was so popular that he began selling them at all 47 of his stores before the company eventually made it a staple item on the menu. He is also credited with being among the first franchisees to serve breakfast at his stores.
Delligatti graduated from Michigan State University in 1964 from The School of Hospitality Business and in 2006, he was inducted into the Alumni Association Wall of Fame, Class of Owners.
McDonald’s estimates that 550 million Big Mac sandwiches are sold in each year in the United States and are sold in over 100 countries.
For the full article, see Matt Durr, “Creator of Big Mac and MSU grad, Michael ‘Jim’ Delligatti dies at 98“, MLive, November 30, 2016.